Tehran to Resume Flights to London Next Month: Official

The Director of the Public Relations Department of Iran’s National Flag Carrier (Iran Air) revealed the resumption of flights to London as of Thursday, May 06. With the removal of coronavirus restriction in UK, domestic flights to London will be operated on Sundays and Thursdays every week, Hossein Jahani said. With the planning made in this regard, these flights will be carried out from Tehran to London as of Thursday, May 06. He went on to say that flight from Tehran to London leaves Imam Khomeini Airport International Airport (IKIA) at 9:20 am (Iran local time) on Sundays and Thursdays every week and arrives at London Airport at 12:10 pm. The return flight from London Heathrow Airport will be operated on Sundays and Thursdays every week at 14:10 pm (UK local time) and arrives at Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) at 23:40 pm (Tehran local time), Jahani added. Iran Air’s flights to London had been suspended due to the spread of UK variant in this country, he continued.

This is while, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development said that flights to UK are still prohibited due to COVID-19 concerns. Mohammad Eslami broke the news in an interview with IRNA on Sunday and reiterated that given the dire consequences behind spread of COVID-19, flights to UK are still prohibited.

Turning to the restriction and prohibition of tour and travel agencies’ activities to neighboring Turkey, the roads minister stated that all tour and travel agencies are duty-bound to fully observe instructions defined by the National Coronavirus Combat and Prevention Headquarters.

However, flights to neighboring Turkey are underway due to the bilateral trade exchanges between the two countries since Turkey is a connecting point to other countries in the world, Eslami highlighted.

Turning to the two-week extension of restrictions for travelling to Iraq, the roads minister added that travel to Iraq had been banned due to the dire situation in southern Khouzestan province in terms of sharp rise in spread of COVID-19 so that these restrictions were renewed for another two weeks by the National Coronavirus Combat and Prevention HQ. 

Elsewhere in his remarks, Eslami pointed to the transit restrictions to 39 countries in world and stated that all domestic flights to UK are still banned.

Currently, travel to neighboring Iraq and Turkey is prohibited while traveling to other neighboring countries is carried out with fully observing of health protocols and guidelines, Iranian Roads Minister Eslami added. - Mehr